1. A thread on Downtown #Vancouver's office construction boom. When it's all said and done there will be roughly 10 million SQ FT of space will be added to just the core.

Here's a brief rundown on what is already approved and under construction...

2. We'll start with what is dubbed as Amazon's unofficial HQ2, or at the very least it's Canadian HQ. At 1.1 million SQ FT this is the largest office development in the city and will help shift DT east as it will house 7500 jobs once occupied.
https://t.co/lJDAwKwR2R
3. The Amazon building is also significant because it will animate that stretch of West Georgia, Homer, Hamilton and Dunsmuir. It will no longer be a black hole for pedestrian activity. There will be approx. 185,000 square feet of retail and food hall space.
4. Next up is the Stack Tower to be anchored by EY. It's at the western edge of the Central Business District (CBD) and will become #Vancouver's tallest office building when complete. It clocks in at roughly 540,000 SQ FT and 530 feet in height. https://t.co/aaSkG8ErNU
5. Recently approved Steam Plant tower has a unique design and large floor plates. With nearly 600,000 SQ FT of office space, this is the second largest office tower that we could see. My bet is that this tower will start to take shape in a year or so
https://t.co/oMGrZwyA2n
6. What's great about this development is the adjacent entertainment pavilion, perfect for the area with nearby @bcplace and @RogersArena. This tower is also on the eastern portion of the CBD.
7. Currently under construction the Deloitte Summit (also leased to Apple). This tower is roughly 370,000 SQ FT and is probably the most architecturally unique build. It's situated next to the VPL main branch on West Georgia. https://t.co/mJ7LIgkWdi
8. Near the Deloitte Summit there's a couple new proposals that I don't believe have been approved. One is for West Georgia https://t.co/cXaSEws578
9. The other is for the Holy Rosary Cathedral office tower. These two towers will add another 600,000 square feet of space if approved. https://t.co/dhqw1YQBAC
10. Closer to Waterfront Station there are 3 new office towers, 2 under construction and one that will commence after the other 2 near completion. The 3 towers will add nearly 750,000 square feet of office space next to the Old RBC tower, and the new Sales Force #Vancouver HQ
11. The first tower is located at 601 West Hastings https://t.co/eRg1dDY6XW
12. Tower 2 is located at 320 Granville. It replaced the parkade that looked like it was going to collapse https://t.co/A8HyrM2ENL
13. Tower 3 is wedged between the old RBC building in a narrow lot on West Hastings. The sleek tower is rare for #Vancouver. https://t.co/EzgylhZ10u
14. Nearby on 443 Seymour is a 400,000 SQ FT tower that has been approved by the city. This tower also replaces a parkade https://t.co/wRLvB6qLXy
15. Vancouver Centre 2 is currently under construction on Seymour next to the Scotia Bank Tower. The sleek tower clocks in at 375,000 SQ FT and will be the new home of #Vancouver's home grown game designer Kabam https://t.co/gI9Qh9nMSd
16. Microsoft continues it's expansion in the city with their new Gastown office. This will be their 4th office in the city. This office adds an additional 75,000 SQ FT of space https://t.co/INmyBTdYhn
17. Bentall 6 tower is the latest addition to the Bentall Complex adding almost 600,000 Sq ft of space. Owners Hudson Pacific have bold plans to add more offices to the site and re-establish Bentall Centre as the heart of Vancouver's Business District https://t.co/VgbryKpGjf
18. I've rambled for too long but these towers are a strong signal that the @CityofVancouver has the confidence of the business community. We're a tech, vfx, production, design, gaming, AR/VR hub. We are home to retail giants like @lululemon, @ARITZIA, @Herschelsupply
19. We're home to many large successful restaurant groups. We're home to @TELUS and other large firms. If we went heavier on our marketing we'd be an even bigger year round tourist hub. We just don't have the hotel capacity right now so it's a bit of a moot point.
20. All of this was primarily the result of the passion and creativity of its people. The governments hasn't done much to aid in the expansion. #Vancouver could be so much more if it had more of @bcndp's attention. If we had a mayor with some ambition.
21. Despite the government missteps people continue to flock here. Now many will dismiss all of this and say that the pandemic has killed the office. It has changed how we work, no doubt most companies will need less space but it won't be a permanent wfh utopia some envision
22. Not everyone wants to WFH all the time but having the flexibility to do so is the real revelation for many old school corps. People crave human connection. The energy the core creates can't be replicated via Zoom.
23. Further, there are some tiny office projects sprinkled throughout the peninsula and I haven't mentioned those planned for Kits, False Creek Flats, East Van, Railtown, Mount Pleasant, Broadway Corridor and Cambie and Marine.
24. #Vancouver is open for business and the world is invited. We have leaders that will take it to the next level and I'm excited for us to finally take the next stage of a city's evolution.

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A solo media founder like Rogan or Mr Beast can make as much money as a strong tech founder, with significantly less managerial stress.

Tech created this ecosystem but there’s a historical cultural bias in tech towards media as unprofitable. That changed a long time ago.

Many more angels that invest in people will invest in media founders. Many traditional media people will *become* media founders.

But not necessarily big companies. Just solo individuals or small groups doing content, like Notch doing Minecraft. Because media scales like code.

Increasingly feeling like “keeping the team size as small as possible, even to one person” is the unarticulated key to making media profitable.

Substack and all the creator tools are just the start of this ecosystem.


The process of converting social influencers into media founders (a trend that has been going on for 10+ years at this point) will be increasingly streamlined.

V1 is link-in-bio, Substack, and sponcon.

V2 likely involves more angels & tokenization a la @tryrollhq. What else?

Why lack of awareness? Influencer monetization numbers are not as public as tech numbers.

There isn’t a TechCrunch & CrunchBase for media founders, chronicling the valuations of influencers.

But that’d be quite valuable. If you are interested in doing this, please DM with demo.

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